Pink Was The Most Unexpected Menswear Trend On The Spring/Summer 2020 Catwalks

In recent years, the menswear industry has undergone a radical reimagining – and while its fashion weeks were once considered womenswear’s diminutive counterpart, characterised by Pitti peacockery and traditional tailoring, their impact now appears more profound than ever before. As the mainstream definition of masculinity broadens, pioneered by figures like Tyler The Creator, Ezra Miller and Dev Hynes, so too does the approach that men take in dressing themselves – and Instagram has become saturated with the selfies of a generation as vocally proud of their fits as women have long been.

This season, that development appeared directly visible on the runway – and from Shanghai to Paris, there was a newfound tenderness in the way that masculinity was explored. Far from tapping into flamboyant femininity, this was simply a season liberated from archaic stereotypes, redressing what it means to be a man in 2019 (or, at least, for spring/summer 2020) – and the idea that gender, or identity, needn’t be codified by a double-breasted navy suit. While it has long been established as shorthand for womanhood, here pink appeared in a new guise – from Prada’s boyish optimism to Loewe’s suede djellabas; Louis Vuitton’s shining croc to Dior’s gentle drapery – and came in every conceivable hue.

While it can often feel as though designers have all come together and sought out collective inspiration when a trend appears so prolific, there were endless different references for each approach taken: Clare Waight Keller took her cues from the street style of Seoul, where “there’s a sense of freedom in the way they dress, which is almost like the way us Brits did it back in the 1980s,” she said. Virgil Abloh paid reference to the bliss of boyhood, when “young men’s encounter with clothes and fashion is yet to be influenced by societal programming… Our exploration of dress codes is still liberated of those codes – of social norms, gender conventions, and cultural conduct.” Rei Kawakubo paid homage to Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (“often it is only the clothes that keep the male or female likeness, while underneath the sex is the very opposite of what it is above”); Kim Jones to Christian Dior’s historic reverence for the shade. It made for a wealth of sweetly utopic collections that felt entirely fresh in their perspective – and whose impact will likely reverberate through the wardrobes of men in seasons to come. Soon, a pink pinstriped shirt might not be the only rose-tinted piece considered fit for the office.